Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-05-21
FERTILIZERS.
NATURES WAY FENRICMNG, AND
IT'S LABORATORY.
yard Manure-Other FertiliZ-
ers-Rotation of Crops.

is what She drops her leaves, her twigs,
| her bark and her decaying vegetation any
where she pleases on the surface of the
earth. These are decomposed, and the
rocks below them are decomposed also by
the action of the elements and all plant
| food is made in that way. Well, now,
| if we are going back to Natures primitive
| original wayne must go good way back
| of where we are now. | speak of our
present farming methods. Everything that
is put on in the shape of manures is differ
ent from Natures way. 1t is artificial. We
| do not drop things on the surface of the
| earth to have them decompose slowly, and
to have them find the crops or not, Just as
it happens, but we apply msnures to the
| soil and work them in with harrows and
cultivators. We put on so much for this
crop and so much for that crop. We say
| that such ground is adapted to such crop,
| and such to another. That is our way Of
| farming and it is artificial. Our way of
! manuring is artificial. If our fertilizers
are artificial, so is the form of barnyard
| manure. 1t is departure from the natu-
raj way of feeding plants If the fertilizer
man is cornered in this way, he can turn
around and show them that they are COR
nered in the same manner.
BARNARD MANURE AN ADVANCE STEP.
Now the use of barnyard manure is one
step in advance of the natural method
Decomposition in it is carried further than
it is by the natural method. 1t is quicker
process and more concentrated than the
| natural process and plant feeding by fer
| tilizers is one more step in advance along
the same line of progress. What are the
| elements of barnyard manure? The same
as you find in these plants which nature
makes. Barnyard manure is made by the
animals eating these plants, and in that
manure is found the elements of the plants.
| What are fertilizers? Fertilizers have in
! them the came elements that barnyard ma
nure has in it, only in more concentrated
form. Barnyard manure in turn, is more
concentrated that Natures way of decom-
posing the various plants on the surface of
the earth.
THE cows STOMACH A LABORATORY.
| Now we talk about fertilizers as being
the product of the laboratory and an arti-
fetal thing. Did you ever think of cows
stomach as a laboratory? 1t is, and the
digestive process is going on as if the food
were in the laboratory. The manure is
the product of chemical processes, they are
| not more such products than is barnyard
manure, which has passed through the lab
| oratory of the COW. There is wonderful
arrangement of the digestive organs of
cows, horses, sheep and oxen, and in them
chemistry does its work. The process is
! the same in both cases, only we have more
| bulk in case of the animal product, and
| less bulk in case of the fertilizers. The
difference is simply matter of bulk. And
when you take into consideration the ele-
ments in barnyard manure, and the ele-
ments in fertilizers, they are the same pre-
clsely. The essential elements are the
same in all their variety, but one is merely
more concentrated, and that is all the diff
| ference there is in them. You can take
barnyard manure, and from it manufact-
ure commercial fertilizer. 1t can all be
| changed by simple process. You can get
| from the manure nitrogen and phosphoric
acid and potash as well as from the phos-
| plate rock of South Carolina, or from the
bones or flesh of animals, or from any
other source whatever.
BONES AND FLESH.
When you come to look at it YOU find
| that the bones and flesh are made from the
very same food that makes the manure.
| In one case the matter takes one form, and
in the other it takes another. The COM
mercial fertilizer manufacturer takes the
| bones and flesh of your animals to get
| plant food from. What difference does it
make to your plants whether it comes
| from the animal or from the fertilizer?
| They both come from the same source
| So, as matter OF reason, fertilizer and it's
use is on the same line of progress that we
were on when we advanced from Natures
way to the use of barnyard manure. Now
one great difference between barnyard ma
nure and fertilizer, is that everything is
| available in the fertilizer for the crop. How
! do you know what the crop needs? You
| know by analyzing it. How do you know
what house is made of? You take the
differAt parts and see. So you can see
| what your crop is made of.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BARNARD MANURE
| AND FERTILIZERS.
In using barnvard manure you find that
there is a difference between that and fer
| tliZer in this respect, that it has the same
elements as the fertilizer, but they are not
| in the same condition. Some of the ele-
ments are latent. The nitrogen is almost
| wholly latent, and is not ready to be taken
up until it undergoes some changes. But
nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammo
| MIA and nitrate of soda is all ready to be
| take up by the plants. From the fact that
the nitrogen in the barnyard manure is not
ready to be taken up by the plants at first,
and undergoes change slowly, you have got
to put good deal more on in order to give
| the plant enough to take up. So there is
| leakage in barnyard manure, because that
| element is not in suitable form for the
plants. 1t is not so with the potash and
phosphoric acid because the plants will
| Immediately receive benefit from them.
| Ammonia as soon as it gets free teaches
| down into the soil and wastes in the
drainage OF the soil.
Now, then, suppose a man says that he
will let all the nitrogen go, that he win put
on phosphoric acid and potash, and if the
plants don't find it this year next years
crop will. This is not the way that YOU put
| OF int Suof1lI ha Ii
money into bank without getting any in
terest upon it for year. You would not
call that wise investment. You would
want to get your interest on it from the
time you put in. Now. take that as an
illustration of the use OF fertilizers. The
question comes, shall you apply fertilizer
or barnyard manure. You are not going to
put on what will not be profitable. But if
you put on manure you must let great
deal of it lie over till next year, and thus
lose years interest. If you put on fertil-
izers it is not so. The crop takes it up The
first year, and you can regulate the food
according to the plants.
ROTATION OF CROPS.
From this follows one result as a corol-
larry, and that is that where you use fertil-
izers, you do not need the system of rota-
ton of crops. 1t strikes at the foundation
of that There are certain chemical changes
in the soil by which certain kinds of plant
food are set free. The great reason for ro-
tation is that the plants we put on one
year take out certain elements and leave
others. If We put on another crop the sec
ond year. it will find some of these others.
So we go on for three or four years in rota-
ton. But with commercial fertilizers we
put on what the crop needs and it takes it
up at once. There is nothing left for an
other crop. Weare not obliged to put IN any
thing for q second year. We put IN Just
what the crop wants, and not trouble our
selves about any future crops.
BARNARD MANURE
Now, in regard to barnyard manure, it
strikes me that there is not too much em-
phasis to be put upon the fact that you
cannot get all the elements the first year.
The percentage is about one-half per cent.
of nitrogen, one-half per cent. of potash.
You cannot always lind what the crop
wants OF these elements without giving it
too much. Crops need different amounts
of food. 1t is not necessary to go the
whole length of the Stockbridge theory in
order to admit this. Some need more am
monia, and some more potash. | use the